Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek have hashed out a revenue-sharing deal surrounding the Prudential Center that, if approved by the City Council, could bring an end to years of legal battles. File photos

NEWARK — After hashing out a landmark revenue sharing agreement months ago, the city of Newark, the New Jersey Devils and the Newark Housing Authority signed off on a lease agreement today, potentially ending years of acrimony between the parties, city officials said today.

One of the last stumbling blocks in the deal was roughly $4 million in legal fees owed to the housing authority from the city, after the city unsuccessfully fought the revenue sharing deal in court. The City Council approved that money last week, according to the officials.

"We are pleased that we have reached an agreement on issues of paramount importance to the City of Newark and the New Jersey Devils," the team and the city said in a joint statement.

But one caveat remains. The Newark Housing Authority has to negotiate with the city to relieve itself of its responsibilities and allow the city's parking authority to take over as the arena landlord — a role held by the housing authority since the arena began constriction in 2005.

Among the deal's provisions:

• Newark will build a parking deck next to the municipal courthouse on Green Street and the Devils will rent a significant number of spaces, guaranteeing income for the city.

• Newark will pay the Devils $2.7 million a year in parking revenue for other lots surrounding the arena, as mandated by arbitrators last year.

• The city will impose a 1.37 percent tax on all tickets to Devils, New York Liberty and Seton Hall University games.

• For other events, like concerts and conventions, the city and the Devils will share a $1.25 facility fee per ticket that will increase after five years.

City officials estimate the new deal could bring Newark as much as $50 million over the life of the lease, which will extend at least 25 years.

The new parking deck, whose construction could begin as early as 2014, will bring in additional revenue.

Aside from new money, the proposed parking deck is expected to provide competition to Pepe Lopez, the owner of a surface lot on Lafayette Street across from the arena. Officials said they hoped the new deck would push Lopez to convert his lot to a mixed-use development.

Part of the deal also stipulates the Newark Housing Authority largely step back as the developing agent for the arena. Instead, the city’s parking authority will take the reins for new development and initiatives, officials have said.

Henry Amoroso, a widely respected finance attorney and the city’s budget consultant, was the lead negotiator, according to accounts by the three officials who were not authorized to publicly discuss the accord.

The agreement, settled in the last few weeks, is the latest stepping stone in a six-year ordeal that has plagued the team and city leaders since Booker came to office.

Vowing to achieve a better agreement for the city than the one agreed to by former Mayor Sharpe James, Booker, Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek and Housing Authority Director Keith Kinard met at the negotiating table several times since 2006, but each plan seemed to evaporate.

The city and the housing authority went to court over parking revenue in 2010, but the ruling was largely inconclusive.

"He’s trying to bilk us at every turn," Booker said, calling the former Lehman Brothers executive "a pathetic penny pincher" and "a Wall Street millionaire that plays into every stereotype that’s put out there."

Vanderbeek accused Booker of reneging on his word, negotiating in bad faith.

"You have a mayor saying to business, ‘You come in and I’ll cut you a deal,’ " Vanderbeek said last year. "‘But if I don’t like you in a couple of years, or if something happens, or if I get up on the wrong side of the bed, you know what? I’m coming after you.’"

The city appealed the arbitration unsuccessfully, leaving the Devils with much of the leverage in the current negotiation.

All that remains now is for the state Legislature to agree to the ticket tax. The bill is out of a Senate committee and should get a full vote over the next couple of weeks.